Military OSCE observers captured by anti-Kiev activists in Slavyansk on April 25 have been released and delivered to Donetsk. Most of them have flown to Berlin.

A German government plane carrying seven of the freed OSCE
observers, four of whom are German, landed at Berlin’s Tegel
Airport at around 9 p.m. local time, Bild reports. They were
welcomed by Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen.

Earlier on Saturday the Russian president's representative
Vladmir Lukin said that "All 12 people I have on the list
were freed."

Last week, the military observers were captured by anti-Kiev
protesters who accused them of espionage. Earlier one of the
detained - a Swedish officer suffering from diabetes - was
released.

Lukin stressed the release of the observers wasn't a bargain.
"It was a voluntary humanitarian act, and we're very grateful
for it to those controlling the city," he said.

Lukin has delivered the OSCE observers to Donetsk and they have
met with representatives of the Council of Europe, according to
the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the OSCE.

“As soon as they are transferred to the representatives of
the Council of Europe, we’ll be able to say that the mission is
over,” Lukin said earlier.

On the way to Donetsk their car came under fire, but all of them
are fine, one of Lukin’s colleagues, who was with the observers
in Slavyansk, Evgeny Kozhokin, told RIA Novosti.

The OSCE observers were treated well in captivity, Col. Igor
Turansky, head of the Ukrainian military mission to the OSCE,
said after arriving at Kiev airport from Donetsk.

“There are no injuries, all was well. [We were] given food,
water, sleep, treated well,” he said, as quoted by
Interfax-Ukraine.

He noted that the self-defense forces said they detained the
observers because they “did not coordinate their actions with
the representatives of the locals.” Turansky added that the
self-defense troops wanted to know the purpose of the observers'
visit. According to him, the detained Ukrainian officers were
treated the same as the OSCE observers.

Kiev authorities jeopardized the lives of the OSCE observers who
were in Slavyansk, said Maria Zaharova, head of the press
department of Russia’s Foreign Ministry.

“More or less prepared analysts did not doubt the fact that
these military observers were deployed to Slavyansk by the
Ukrainian side and their known sponsors to create a new source of
tension to escalate the crisis and to directly involve the
European countries in the domestic conflict,” Zaharova told
RIA Novosti.

“The Kiev junta did not only think about the observers’
security, but put their lives at direct risk by starting the
punitive operation against the civilians in Slavyansk,” she
added.

The conflict resolution carried out by the self-defense forces
during the operation saved the lives of the foreigners, she
added.

The interim Ukrainian government was supporting the mission
carried out by Vladimir Lukin, including aid in establishing
contacts and coordinating activities at a central administration
level, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry stated, as quoted by
Interfax news agency.

“Vladimir Lukin was advised of a safe way from Donetsk to
Slavyansk, with transportation. The Ukrainian security forces
insist on this, being responsible for the lives of both the
observers and the negotiators,” the statement said.

Vladimir Lukin is Russia's official envoy to Ukraine. He
initially had difficulties in entering Slavyansk as the Ukrainian
army and the Right Sector militants refused him access to the
city.

The Kiev government was initially reluctant to support the
mission.

“We get the impression that the Kiev administration views the
mission as something handicapping their plans to start the attack
on Slavyansk in the coming hours,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry
said on Friday.